Maple Leafs general manager Cliff Fletcher sat in his office this preseason and contemplated how his forward situation would unfold after an offseason of attrition, which included losing longtime veteran Mats Sundin to semi-retirement.
Fletcher went into 2008-09 with just one reliable top-six forward -- Nik Antropov -- and the Leafs had lineup questions to answer just about everywhere.
Coach Ron Wilson, in his first season, would be the architect to get the NHL's highest-valued franchise back on track. Wilson has used some unique motivational tactics through the first six weeks of the hockey season, but the payoff seems to be coming as some unusual suspects are making waves north of the border.
Heading into Saturday's tilt with the Blackhawks, Toronto has six players with 13 or more points in 19 games. Fantasy staples like Antropov and defenseman Tomas Kaberle are among the group, but the remaining names might not be as renowned. Matt Stajan, Mikhail Grabovski, Niklas Hagman and Alexei Ponikarovsky are all doing their part to make Toronto competitive in the Eastern Conference.
The one player that has been being plucked off Fantasy waivers like crazy is Stajan, who leads the team with 17 points. The veteran forward has been with Toronto since entering the league in 2002-03, but has never been treated as a superstar. Times could be changing.
Stajan was benched for a game in October for his poor play. He didn't have a point in his first five games and only attempted one shot in that span. Wilson had seen enough and sat the Ontario native. Smart move. Since the benching, Stajan has failed to get a point in just two of his last 13 games with four multi-point efforts sprinkled in. He is currently Toronto's top-line center.
Ponikarovsky is much like Stajan. A Toronto lifer since 2000-01, he has pretty much laid low outside of a few 20-goal seasons. However, he only achieved 40-plus points once in his career. He is currently on track for a career-high 55 points. Ponikarovsky has also been in Wilson's doghouse this season, but is responding to the extra attention.
Hagman came to Toronto in the offseason after totaling a career-high 27 goals and 41 points in 2007-08 for Dallas. With a new contract in hand, room for disappointment was provided. While Hagman hasn't been consistent with the points at times, he does have a team-high 72 shots and is third with six goals. He is being given every chance to be Toronto's top scorer.
Grabovski might be the most intriguing forward of the bunch. A Montreal castoff that never really had a chance to spread his wings under Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau, Grabovski leads Toronto with nine goals and is converting at a team-high 26.5 percent. He had just one goal in his first 11 games, but has since exploded for eight in his last eight games. The 2004 fifth-round pick has never had a track record of being an elite scorer, so we might be witnessing the rise of a future All-Star.
This isn't all Toronto has in the cupboard. Jason Blake is a veteran trying to get his game back on track. Nikolai Kulemin is a rookie who made waves early and is still trying to find his niche in the NHL. And defenseman Ian White has been transitioned to a forward and is even seeing time on the power-play as the team's only right-handed specialist.
Fletcher might have had a few restless nights with so much uncertainty surrounding his team, but things are quickly falling into place for the Leafs.
Add 'Em
Loui Eriksson, LW, Dallas
Owned: 31 percent of leagues
Analysis:
The Swedish native is in his third NHL season and poised for a breakout
campaign. After scoring just once in his first seven games, coach Dave
Tippett moved Eriksson to a scoring line with Mike Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow. He
has exploded for seven goals and three assists in his last 10 games.
Eriksson is currently on pace for 38 goals and has been lauded by
Tippett for his strong play with and without the puck.
Mikael Samuelsson, RW, Detroit
Owned: 53 percent of
leagues
Analysis: It's not like Detroit doesn't have enough
talented forwards, but Samuelsson is trying to rival the production of Marian Hossa, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen and Pavel Datsyuk. He
has 16 points in 17 games and is on pace for a career-high 76 points.
This for a guy that has never managed more than 45 points in his first
seven NHL seasons. However, this year he is on a line with Franzen and
Zetterberg, and as much as those two score, Samuelsson is destined for
his first 50-point campaign.
Patrik Berglund, C, St. Louis
Owned: 23 percent of
leagues
Analysis: With Andy McDonald out until January with a broken ankle, we are going to
get a good look at Berglund's potential. The 20-year-old rookie has
managed 10 points (five goals) and a plus-8 rating in his first 15 NHL
games. They have tried him at winger and up the middle, and Berglund has
done his best work as a center. Now that McDonald is sidelined, St.
Louis will need some stability up the middle more than ever. They have
already said Berglund will get a tryout in McDonald's place as the
team's top power-play center. It's not like Berglund doesn't have the
talent as a 2006 first-round pick, but his learning curve has just been
accelerated.
Drop' Em
Michael Nylander, C, Washington
Owned: 68 percent of
leagues
Analysis: Nylander came into '08-09 coming off major
shoulder surgery, but showed in the preseason he had recovered from the
injury. He even had two goals and five assists in his first four games
of the regular season. All seemed well, and then Nylander stopped
producing. He hasn't scored in 13 games and has just five assists in
that span. Nicklas Backstrom has firmly
entrenched himself again as the team's top-line center and even Sergei Fedorov was proving to be a better player up the middle for
Washington before he went down with an ankle injury. Nylander hasn't
been able to produce in Fedorov's absence and hasn't been very
aggressive on offense (23 shots in 17 games).
Avoid' Em
Ruslan Fedotenko, LW, Pittsburgh
Owned: 17 percent of
leagues
Analysis: Fedotenko finally seems to be settling into
his new surroundings after a few turbulent weeks to begin his Pittsburgh
career. Fedotenko has four goals and four assists in his last 10 games
after getting zero points in his first seven games with Pittsburgh. He
was lured away from the Islanders in the offseason with Miroslav Satan, but Fedotenko hasn't made the same impact as his fellow
defector. Fedotenko has been skating on a line recently with Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora, but for
a guy that is still on pace for just 36 points, he doesn't make for an
intriguing Fantasy option.
R.J. Umberger, C, Columbus
Owned: 30 percent of leagues
Analysis:
Umberger didn't play the part of a top-line center early in the
season. He didn't score a goal in his first 10 games with Columbus after
being one of their top free-agent acquisitions and was even dropped to
the third line. He has since rebounded in November with seven goals in
nine games, but no assists. When Umberger had a career-high 50 points in
'07-08 with Philadelphia, he had just two months with 10 or more points.
It seems he still doesn't have a complete game and is hit-or-miss when
it comes to putting points on the board.
Chuck Kobasew, RW, Boston
Owned: 14 percent of leagues
Analysis:
Kobasew has played just seven games this season because of a broken
ankle, but has made every one count. He has eight points and a plus-4
rating. While the point-per-game average is nice, we just don't see it
lasting. Especially since Kobasew has attempted just 10 shots and never
managed more than 150 shots in a season. He does have two 20-goal
seasons to his credit, but has never broken 40 points. He is a good
hockey player, but not great Fantasy option.
Watch 'Em
Bobby Ryan, RW, Anaheim
Owned: 24 percent of leagues
Analysis:
Ryan, the No. 2 pick in the 2005 draft, was sent down to the AHL after
training camp in what was called a salary-cap move by then general
manager Brian Burke. When Burke recently resigned, it didn't take
Anaheim long to recall Ryan after he was tearing it up Iowa (19 points
in 14 games). Ryan has had a slow progression since being drafted as the
player after Sidney Crosby, but it seems
he is finally ready to make the jump to the NHL. In his first game
Saturday against the Kings, he skated on the left wing of the top line
with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. He came back in his second game Wednesday against the
Capitals with two goals and one assist. If he can somehow stay as a
top-six forward, there is definite room for Ryan to make an impact.
Dustin Boyd, C, Calgary
Owned: 6 percent of leagues
Analysis:
The Flames have dabbled with Boyd the previous two seasons, but are
finally giving him his first shot at a full campaign in '08-09. The 2004
third-round pick showed during the preseason he wanted to be a vital
part of the organization as he lead the team with seven points and a
plus-6 rating. He has been getting time as a top-six forward and is
third on the team with six goals. He is converting at a team-high 23.1
percent. He had some nice offensive totals in junior hockey and the
minors, so he is capable of being an offensive force. Boyd just needs to
get his assist totals (three) a little higher before he becomes a
must-add player.
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